What was the first position you hired for?
A customer service person. We get a ton of customer inquiries.
People want more information about Birchbox. They want to know
how it works. We needed someone to answer emails, even though
Hayley and I were still really involved answering them.

Then we hired someone to help with operations, with strategy, and
with the beauty partners. For technology, we hired a consultant,
Liz Crawford, who was previously at Aprizi — we were connected to
her via Phin Barnes at First Round Capital. She's now our chief
technology officer. Finding a tech hire in New York was
definitely challenging. We’re a tech company, so we have very
technical problems. Early on, it wasn’t obvious what the tech
challenges were. We now have eight engineers.

What other teams have you grown?
We’ve had to build all the teams. The partnerships team is
growing. Working with several beauty brands, that list has grown.
Our editorial team has really grown. Our operations and customer
service team has grown as well.

How big are you today?
About 45 employees.

What was your approach – how did you find
candidates?
Initially, they found us – in fact, they beat us over the head to
get our attention. This includes friends or people who read the
first press that came out. They told us how they were going to
help. At first, it was really challenging to write job
descriptions. We found amazing candidates. Hiring is hard.

Do you have an HR person?
We have a hybrid office manager/HR person that we hired two
months ago.

How much value do you put into a resume and cover
letter?
We put a lot of value into resumes and cover letters. It helps us
determine how much value people can add to our company.

Did you use social media to hire?
We definitely used LinkedIn. And we put internships on job boards,
especially with hiring junior graphic designers.

What are the top characteristics you're looking for in an
employee?
We want people who are inspired by what we’re doing. We've set
out to do something pretty big. The person must be optimistic. We
have a huge goal, so we need doers who have ideas — and know how
to execute on those ideas. People who thrive well on teams. Their
communications skills need to be excellent. And a generally
positive attitude.

Did you have experience hiring before launching
Birchbox?
No we didn’t. We spoke with other entrepreneurs and talked to
investors who provided great tactical, strategic advice. These
people are a few years ahead of us, and remember what it’s like
to be in the trenches, hiring the first 10 people.